The Toronto Blue Jays - Whitest team in Baseball???

[Darcy]

Article courtesy The Toronto Star www.thestar.com

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...d=970599119419

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Firstly, I am a subscriber to The Toronto Star and after reading this article, I am really considering cancelling my subscription. This article appeared not only in the front page of the Toronto Star Sports section, but also on the front page of the whole newspaper! Personally, I find this article to be completely one-sided, and is just trying to bring down the baseball club. The Blue Jays attendance has been way down since the 1994 Baseball Players strike, and with the Blue Jays struggling to keep up with teams like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox (in the standings and payroll department), the Jays are finally beginning to win games and find themselves only 3 games behind the first place New York Yankees. Attendance is finally on the rise, having averaged about 15,000 or 16,000 people per game the past few seasons, it has increased as the Jays have been winning more games, and things have really begun looking up. The Jays have done a lot more marketing in the media over the past two or three seasons and it seems to be helping, but I was just shocked to see this article in the Toronto Star (which happens to be "The official newspaper of the Toronto Blue Jays"). I worry that this article will do more harm than good. I'm sure no one would have even considered thinking about something like this until this article came out! Anyways, I'd be interested in hearing what others might have to say about this topic.

Darcy

[Freightdogg]

Well as the newspaper article states it seems to be more economically motivated than racially motivated, so if Toronto can't afford the highest paid players they just sign what they can afford. No big deal there.

I also noted that the author of the article seemed to be somewhat racially motivated himself. Doesn't Canada have the highest percentage of Asian citizens of any American nation? Yet the author failed to complain that Asians were under-represented on the team. That makes his motives suspect from my point of view.

[Darcy]

Well as the newspaper article states it seems to be more economically motivated than racially motivated, so if Toronto can't afford the highest paid players they just sign what they can afford. No big deal there.

Yes, I agree with you on that, I don't see the big deal there either. I think part of the problem is the Canadian Dollar is not as high as the American Dollar, and therefore the Blue Jays payroll is slightly more limited than teams in the U.S.A., and the Jays can only sign players who are still young and have things to prove. I'd agree that it's more economically motivated than racially motivated (which makes me wonder what the point of the whole article is). The writer never really seemed to mention the reason for writing such an article (which I feel was poorly timed as well).

I also noted that the author of the article seemed to be somewhat racially motivated himself. Doesn't Canada have the highest percentage of Asian citizens of any American nation? Yet the author failed to complain that Asians were under-represented on the team. That makes his motives suspect from my point of view.

I believe Canada does have the highest percentage of Asian citizens of any American nation, although I don't have the numbers in front of me. I feel the writer could have also given the Jays' opinons in that article, especially Carlos Delgado, Shannon Stewart, Orlando Hudson, Kelvim Escobar (a few of the players on the Jays who are not white) to comment on the whole situation. I personally feel the writer has lost some credibility after writing this article.

Darcy

[YVR737]

this whole thing pisses me off. There goal is to win games with the best players they can afford. Little does the article point out that there are less blacks playing baseball now day

[The Flying Dutchman]

I think this article is really dumb. So what if they have the least mixed racial team. It is not like the purposely wanted the team to be all white. They just gotta choose the good players they can afford to make a winning team. That is what the Jays have done and I hope to see them in the playoffs!

Go Jays Go!

[Ansett]

what the

[iceman]

I lived in Toronto for a few months a few years ago and I visit the city fairly often as my sister lives there. This article gives me some – lets say – “interesting” memories of the “Red Star”.

I never really considered the Toronto Star to be a bastion of honest journalism, but more of a tabloid written by zany, idiotic “activists” who self-righteously try to make a statement rather than provide the public with honest journalism. The result is a laborious and very painful read and I often have difficulty getting through a whole article.

I once e-mailed the economics reporter (I forget his name) because he provided some facts in his editorial that were dead wrong and I called him to task on it and showed him the correct information. He at least responded, but he wouldn't admit he was wrong (nor would he provide me the source of his information) and his sanctimonious explanation was just ridiculous.

So, like I said, I do not take that paper too seriously and don’t consider them to be a good source of information. They just want to make a declaration and that’s it. But I hear that it’s the most widely-circulated paper in Canada, which is pretty sad.

P.S. I HATE Susan Pigg!

Also wanted to add that I am a huge Blue Jays fan.

[Darcy]

I have to agree with everyone on this topic. The Jays only select players based on how well they play and try to put a competitive team on the field, and they've done that. It shouldn't matter what colour or race the players are. I also heard some Jays being interviewed on this topic, and they all agreed it's a dumb article which is based on no facts at all, and that the team gets along no matter what colour or race they are.

I got The Toronto Star again the next day, thinking maybe they'd have some common sense to apologize or at least show the Jays' view on this topic, only to see another writer back up the original writer, telling readers to RE-READ the first article!!! Wasn't it bad enough to put fuel to a fire which wasn't even burning yet in the first place?? Why would they need to fill another page of the next day's newspaper just to back up one moron by telling people to re-read the article!?!? This just made me lose even more respect to The Star. Does this mean The Toronto Star will come out with another article saying the Toronto Raptors have an almost all-Black lineup, or that the Maple Leafs don't have enough Asians on their team? I say it shouldn't matter what colour or race you are, if you can play the sport and can help the team out, you should be on the team no matter what colour/race you are.

Darcy

[Ansett]

what the read it 3 times and dtill dont know

[YVR737]

it aint complecating some baseball writer said the bluejays are racist cause they have alot of white guys on the team

[bbuse]

What about the NHL hockey teams? There are very few (if any) black players in the NHL, but nothing has been mentioned about this.

[Legend_Airlines]

Re: The Toronto Blue Jays - Whitest team in Baseball???

I am a subscriber to The Toronto Star and after reading this article, I am really considering cancelling my subscription

I hear my father stating this all the time.

I prefer the National Post, but he hasn't switched yet.

[YVR737]

What about the NHL hockey teams? There are very few (if any) black players in the NHL, but nothing has been mentioned about this.

yeah but there comparing the rest of the league to the blue jays. THe nhl only has maybe 30 black players. HArd to bring that up while there is only that many playing